1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to latch mechanisms for selectively securing an electronic module in an installed position.
2. Background of the Related Art
The configuration of a computer system can vary widely in accordance with the demands to be placed on the computer system. For some applications, an entirely new configuration may be needed to effectively accomplish a desired load as a desired level of performance. In other applications, the performance of a particular computer system may be increased through the use of one or more expansion cards, which may provide a specialized function or expanded capacity to the computer system. Some of these expansion card may be hot swappable, meaning that the expansion card may be installed or uninstalled without shutting down the rest of the computer system.
In order to meet ever-increasing demands for computer capacity and performance, there is pressure to put more components in a smaller space and to avoid shutting down computer systems when new or replacement expansion cards are necessary. However, an expansion card or electronic module needs to be secured to a computer system during operation. Unfortunately, latch mechanisms used to secure an expansion module take up valuable space without adding to the capacity or performance of the computer system.